Mental Health Interventions for International Migrants Across Migration Pathways in High-Income Countries: An Umbrella Review and Review-Level Evidence and Gap Map

Why is the research needed?

People who move to another country (i.e., migrants) may experience circumstances that affect their mental health and access to support, including family separation, insecure housing or employment, discrimination, and language barriers. These experiences can differ depending on why people migrated and their immigration status. Mental health services therefore need evidence that reflects the needs and circumstances of different migrant groups.

Existing research reviews have focused mainly on refugees and people seeking asylum, particularly on treatments for trauma-related mental health problems. Less is known about the evidence available for people moving for work, education or family reasons, and about approaches that promote well-being, prevent mental health problems or improve access to care. Bringing these reviews together will help clarify what is known, which groups the findings apply to, and where further research is needed.

What are we doing?

We are reviewing existing research reviews on mental health support for people who have moved across an international border to live in a high-income country. The project covers people of all ages and different reasons for migration, including work, education, joining family and seeking protection. We will examine approaches that promote well-being, prevent or treat mental health problems, and improve access to and delivery of mental health care.

We will search research databases and assess the methodological quality of eligible reviews. We will bring together findings from systematic reviews on benefits, possible harms, implementation and how support is delivered. Both systematic reviews and systematically conducted scoping reviews will contribute to a review-level evidence and gap map showing which migrant groups, types of support and outcomes are covered by existing reviews. We will consider how current the evidence is and whether reviews include the same underlying studies, helping us explain what the findings support and what remains uncertain.

How are we working with communities, services and organisations?

The project is being conducted by researchers at the Institute for Public Health and Wellbeing at the University of Essex. Following screening, we plan to consult organisations working with migrants in the Greater Essex area to help us interpret the relevance of the findings, identify practice-relevant implications and evidence gaps, and consider how the findings can be communicated clearly and usefully.

What will the impact and benefits of this research be?

We will help practitioners, service planners, policymakers and organisations supporting migrants understand what existing evidence says about mental health support for different migrant groups. It will summarise what existing reviews report about different approaches, practical considerations for delivering support, and limitations that affect how confidently findings can be applied.

The evidence gap map and accompanying summary will also help researchers and funders identify areas needing further research, better reporting or updated reviews. Findings may inform decisions in the East of England, across the UK and in other high-income countries, while recognising differences between local services and migrant populations. The project’s immediate contribution will be clearer, more accessible evidence to support these decisions.

What do we have planned for knowledge mobilisation and implementation?

The protocol will be made publicly available through an online research repository. The project will produce a summary of findings and an evidence map showing the coverage and gaps in existing research reviews.

We plan to prepare a plain English summary and share the findings through the project webpage and relevant research and practice networks. We will seek opportunities to discuss their implications with organisations supporting migrants and people involved in planning or delivering mental health services, including where the evidence indicates a need for further research, better population reporting or updated evidence synthesis.

Related papers, outputs and resources

Planned outputs include the completed review, an online version of the evidence and gap map and accompanying tables describing evidence coverage and limitations.